Contents

In Marshall there are green shipping containers with "Oremor" painted on the side of them, which is "Romero" spelled in reverse. George Romero made the original Night of the Living Dead (1968) which was responsible for creating the modern "undead cannibal" interpretation of a zombie. It was followed by several sequels, including Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).

Also in west Marshall is "Ma Rogers' Corner Store". This is actually a reference to the much-beloved children's TV icon Fred "Mr." Rogers, who actually gave George Romero his very first directing job.

One of the potential Home sites is the Savini Residence. This is a reference to actor, stuntman, director, special effects and makeup artist Tom Savini (aka "The King of Gore" and "The Sultan of Splatter"). He was in charge of the makeup and gore effects for Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and other horror flicks. He has acted in numerous zombie movies, including the original Dawn of the Dead as a biker, a cameo in the remake as a Sheriff on TV, and a biker zombie in Land of the Dead. He also directed the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. Additionally, many shipping containers around the map (such as one in front of the courthouse) read "INIVAS" which is Savini spelled backwards.

In the southeast side of the town of Marshall, there is a large, heavily fortified and burnt out building with the name "Cronenberg Elementary School" visible above the main doors. David Cronenberg is an acclaimed Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor who is among the first to popularize the horror genre known as body horror. He has made a few movies that have some similarity with zombie movies, such as Rabid (1977) and Shivers (1975).

The portion of the Trumbull County Fairgrounds that you actually set up base in is called the "Argento Stockyards". This is a reference to Italian horror director Dario Argento. Zombie-wise, he re-cut and re-scored the 1978 Dawn of the Dead for its international release, as well as writing and producing the zombie-like movies Demons (1985) and its sequel (1986). He is also the father of actress Asia Argento who starred in Land of the Dead and made her debut in Demons 2 at 10 years old.

In downtown Marshall is "Papa Fulci's Pizzeria", along with the Pizza Delivery cars around the map for this shop. These are a reference to Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci who directed numerous zombie movies including the eponymous Zombie series that actually started with Zombie 2 since it was made as a 'sequel' to the original Dawn of the Dead, which was marketed in Italy as "Zombie". Interestingly, the building's sign and the delivery cars include a caricature of a chef's face with glasses and a beard that bears a striking resemblance to Lucio Fulci before his death.

Beside the Zippcom warehouse in west Marshall there is a warehouse marked as "Duane Jones Contractors". Duane Jones is the actor who played the main character Ben in the original Night of the Living Dead.

Around the map are campaign yard signs to "re-elect Sheriff McClelland for Trumbull County Sheriff". Sheriff McClelland was a character in both the original and remake of Night of the Living Dead. He appeared on the local TV news for interviews and was responsible for leading his police and deputized citizens in cleaning up the zombie outbreak, including at the farmhouse late in the movie where most of the film takes place.

In both Marshall and Fairfield there are semi-trailers that bear a logo for "Foree Electronics". This is a reference to Ken Foree, who portrayed the main protagonist of the original Dawn Of the Dead movie and had a cameo as the televangelist in the remake.

Various abandoned houses have the question "Where do the dead go when hell is full?" scrawled on the wall. This is a reference to a line said in the both the original Dawn of the Dead (1978) and its remake (2004), both times said by the same actor (Ken Foree again) but in different roles: "When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth". This line also appeared as the tagline on the posters for both movies.

In downtown Marshall there is a business called "Howard Sherman Real Estate", along with advertisement placards placed on buildings around the map in various states of selling. Those names switched around is Sherman Howard, who played the zombie nicknamed "Bub" in the original Day of the Dead (1985). Bub was the brightest 'student' of Dr. Logan, who was researching methods for beating the zombies, one of which was if zombies could be domesticated. Bub wasn't the mindless killing machine that all zombies seemed to be. He was very docile around the living. Dr. Logan discovered that Bub remembered much from being alive previously, like how to shave, flip through a book, salute an army officer, and operate a handgun. That final ability came in handy when Bub ultimately killed the film's antagonist in revenge for killing Dr. Logan, Bub's only friend.

Around town are campaign lawn signs for "Richard Liberty: Public Health Inspector". Richard Liberty portrayed Dr. Logan in the original Day of the Dead. The tagline for these signs is "Acting on Instinct'. In the movie, Dr. Logan's was researching if zombies could be taught to overcome their 'instincts', namely, not killing and eating the living.

In both Spencer's Mill and Marshall there are mechanic shops named "Big Daddy Auto Repair". This is likely to be a reference to the leader zombie from Land of the Dead (2005), who wore a mechanic's jumpsuit with the name tag "Big Daddy" on it and first appeared in the movie exiting a service station named "Big Daddy's Gas and Repairs". There are also 2 billboards on the wall of the Trumbull County Fairgrounds for these shops. There's also a real life reference to this one: the Internet site actually exists in WWW (the same goes for Little Piggy Towing).

The actual portion of the fairgrounds that you set up base in is called the "Argento Stockyards". Asia Argento also starred in Land of the Dead.

There are several water towers around the map with "Kaufman" on them. Paul Kaufman was the antagonist of this film, portrayed by Dennis Hopper.

Throughout the map there are several semi trailers for "Tucker's Meats". Boyd Banks has appeared in 3 "of the Dead" movies. He first appeared in Dawn of the Dead (2004) as truck driver named Tucker. He next appeared as a butcher zombie in Land of the Dead, one of Big Daddy's first follower zombies. His last appearance was a human cameo in Diary of the Dead. Put together Tucker from Dawn and a butcher from Land and you get "Tucker's Meats".

In downtown Marshall is the Sprang Van Rental company. Alan Van Sprang has also appeared in 3 "of the Dead" movies, all 3 times as a soldier. He was first in Land of the Dead (2005) as a soldier named Brubaker who died and became a zombie. He next played Sarge in both Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009). In Breakdown, sometimes the random survivors you encounter wear Sprang Van Rental T-shirts.

Occasionally, when running over a horde with a vehicle a companion might say "Hey, you got some on you." This line is similar to the "you got red on you" running gag in the movie Shaun of the Dead. Other people keep saying this to Shaun, first referring to a leaky red pen in his shirt pocket, then later to blood that splatters on him as he kills zombies.

Occasionally, when with another survivor on foot, the survivor may say "You've got red on you" after killing several zeds.

In several spots around town, there are little yard signs advertising "Simon and Nick's Landscaping." This is probably a reference to the stars of Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg (Shaun) and Nick Frost (Ed). The first 2 zombies encountered by Shaun and Ed in this movie (whom they finally acknowledged were zombies) were in their garden. They attempted to kill the zombies first by throwing household items at them to no effect, then vinyl records that they hate enough to ruin by throwing, but when that also proved useless Shaun broke into the locked shed. He came back with a shovel for Ed and a cricket bat for himself to finish off the 2 zombies.

The Cricket Bat is described in game as a "Good quality movie prop replica". It must refer to Shaun's bat. Starting at the scene above, Shaun kills zombies with it for half of the movie until losing it while pushing his zombified stepfather away with it.

In the office buildings just north of the Courthouse, there is a travel agency with four posters on the wall; Wichita, Columbus, Tallahassee and Little Rock. These are the names of the four protagonists in Zombieland.

The description of Cardio calls it "Rule #1" This is a reference to Columbus's Rules to surviving the zombie outbreak. There is also a store in the Fairfield Shopping Plaza called "Cardio: Rule Number One in Style."

The achievement for killing zombies with a car door is called "Enjoy the Little Things", another of Columbus' Rules.

The Dog-leg is based on a cut down Winchester lever rifle known as a Mare's Leg, which is the character Tallahassee's weapon of choice.

The Snack item bears a resemblance to a package of Twinkies, the food item that Tallahassee obsessively hunts for during the film.

The "Blaine's Grocery" supermarket in the town of Marshall is a reference to the supermarket that Tallahassee and Columbus enter trying to find Twinkies, but instead get carjacked for the first time by Wichita and Little Rock.

There is a car lot in downtown Marshall titled "Campbell's Used Autos", along with billboards both nearby and also just outside the east entrance of Marshall, depicting a man (with a rather large cleft chin) driving a car wearing a king's crown. At the bottom it says "Hail to the king of used automobiles!" This is a reference to Bruce Campbell, who played Ash in the original Evil Dead series. In fact, the last line of the original series is Ash saying "Hail to the king, baby!" to a damsel in distress he just rescued.

In Story Mode as you leave the campgrounds on Mt. Tanner, you come across a collapsed bridge that prevents you from driving away. A similar situation occurs in Evil Dead 2 when Ash tries to escape from the cabin in the woods by driving away, only to find that the bridge at the only entrance is out.

The first playable character in Story Mode is Marcus Campbell, possibly named after Bruce.

In Marshall there is a nursery (across the street from Blaine's Grocery) with a sign in front of it, bearing the words "Vera Cosgrove's Child-Care". In the movie Braindead/Dead Alive, Vera Cosgrove was the widowed mother of Lionel, the movie's protagonist who was quite the 'mama's boy'. While spying at Lionel while he was on date at the zoo with a girl she didn't approve of, she was bitten by the Sumatra Rat Monkey that caused her to later become the first zombie of the outbreak. The sign's following sentence "No one will ever love you like your mother" is a direct quote from the finale of the movie when Lionel battles his super-mutated zombified mother on the roof of their burning house.

"Uncle Les' Self-Storage" is a reference to another character in the movie, with locations in Spencer's Mill and Marshall as well as billboards throughout the map. Uncle Les was Lionel's sleazy uncle on his mother's side. Lionel's father died when he was very young. After Vera apparently 'died' in public (Lionel managed to sedate his zombified mother who escaped their house) and was buried, Lionel dug her up later that night and locked her in the basement, along with her several zombified victims. Uncle Les repeatedly visited to comfort his 'grieving' nephew after the funeral, when in reality he was just snooping around the house and trying to talk his way into Lionel's money since Les was written out of the will. During one of his visits, he finds Vera and the other zombies (all sedated) stored in the basement, which he uses to blackmail Lionel into giving him the house and money.

There is a brand of farm equipment named "Lionel" in the game, mostly equipment large enough for farm work. The smallest Lionel machine in the game is a push lawn mower, the character Lionel's zombie-killing weapon of choice from the film's finale.

The "Zombie Head" avatar award is given to the player upon the exploration of a series of cabins on the shore of the lake at Mt. Tanner. This is possibly a reference to the 2000 movie "Cabin by the Lake".

There are numerous campaign signs around the map for "Prop 18", which appears to be a ballot proposal to hire more emergency service workers. The Taxi includes a sign on the driver's side of its rooftop light for more "rescuers", while the yard signs for this Proposal read "Send More Paramedics". In The Return of the Living Dead (1985), zombies attack and devour a paramedic team. When one zombie hears the dispatcher over the radio in the ambulance asking for an update, he grabs the radio handset and tells her to "send more paramedics".

There are magazines strewn about in several locations. One among them is titled "OBEY". This is most likely a reference to They Live (1988). In that movie, aliens are trying to subversively conquer the world via the economy, turning humanity into zombie-like mindless consumers via subliminal messages in every form of media. After a police raid, the protagonist finds a pair of sunglasses with which he is able to see the hidden messages. When he looks through a magazine without the glasses it appears normal, but with the glasses on, all he sees is one message per page like "OBEY", "SUBMIT", "REPRODUCE", "CONFORM", "NO THOUGHT", etc. Also with the glasses on he can see through the aliens' human disguises, and their appearance is very zombie-like.

In downtown Marshall next to the County Court House is a teal-colored theater undergoing renovations. It has several movie posters listed on its front, all of them for horror movies. While half of them appear to be for generic horror movies, there is one that seems to directly reference the Saw franchise, titled "Lathe IV". Just like the villain Jigsaw from the Saw series, this series appears to have a villain named after a tool. The poster's tagline is "Dremel is back!"

Also on the theater named above is a poster for "Musk", claiming to come "from the best-selling novel". The tagline is "She was a nerdy high school girl, he was a Northwestern mythological beast". This is a reference to Twilight, only instead of dating a vampire, she's dating Bigfoot. While it might not be directly related, gun stores in the game also contain posters that promote hunting Bigfoot as a family event.

The achievement "Ya Always Were An A-Hole Gorman" (for dying in a Blaze of Glory) is a reference to the movie Aliens. In the movie, Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) said this line to Lieutenant Gorman (William Hope) just before the two of them sacrifice themselves with a grenade to slow down a pack of xenomorphs.

The Kirkman ResidenceHome Site might be a reference to Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead series. Additionally some shipping containers (such as ones in front of the courthouse) read "Namkrik" which is Kirkman spelled backwards.

Several lawn signs around the map display "Richard Grimes for Sheriff". This is a reference to the main character of The Walking Dead TV series and comic, Rick Grimes.

Upon arriving at the Church of the Ascension for the first time, Lily's first words to Marcus are "Come on, I'll give you the nickel tour." - A direct quote from The Governor, upon first meeting Rick Grimes in the Walking Dead comic book series.

At several spots around the map you can find semi trailers for "Adlard Moore Freight Company" written on the side. This is a reference to Charlie Adlard and Tony Moore who are the original artists of The Walking Dead comics.

The RV model throughout the game appears to be based on a 1973 Winnebago Chieftain, the same as Dale's RV from the first 2 TV seasons.

There is a character called Ben Greene. His last name may be a reference to the show's Greene family: Hershel, Beth and Maggie or the comic series family.

In downtown Marshall is "Penny's Antique Furniture Emporium". Penny was the zombified daughter of The Governor that he still loved, even in undeath.

At the Trumbull County Fairgrounds, there are banners for "Andrea's Texas Style Cheesy Fries". Andrea was a survivor from the first 2 seasons of the TV show and is still alive in the comic.

As mentioned above, there is a "Duane Jones Contractors" warehouse in west Marshall. The character Duane Jones appeared in both the comic and TV show as the young son of Morgan Jones. Kirkman named him after the actor from the original Night of the Living Dead.

"Merle's Second Hand Goods" is a small shop to the right of the massive grocery complex on the east side of Danforth, and a clever joke about the fate of Merle's hand in TWD.

In the Port Norton shipping yard area near the top of the Danforth map there is a warehouse named "Chandlers Rig & Maintenance". This is a direct reference to Chandler Riggs, the actor who plays Carl Grimes on the TV show.

If you have a medical lab, the description to make mild stims says, "Restores max stamina a little. Fresh from our med lab. Heisenberg would be proud."

The first name of the Breakdown DLC character Walter Degrasse is likely a reference to the character Walter White in the TV show "Breaking Bad". He also has chemical knowledge, carries Thermite, and wears a Hazmat Suit.

Slightly east of the northern bridge to Marshall, there is an un-enterable building covered in graffiti. On the northwest wall of this building is a stylized rendition of a man missing the right half of his face along with the words "Adios Gustavo". This is a direct reference to the death of Gustavo Fring .

The Pipe Bender melee weapon added in Breakdown includes the description "Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee". This is a quote from the robot Bender on this show. He was paraphrasing a quote from the Ernest Hemingway book "For Whom the Bell Tolls".

When something has gone well, survivors with Marcus Campbell's voice set will occasionally shout "Everything's coming up Milhouse!", a line spoken by Milhouse Van Houten in the TV series "The Simpsons"

The licence plate on the Modern Sedan spells out "SCOO-B". While Scooby Doo and the gang usually confronted cartoon human villains only pretending at the supernatural to scare the public away, they once encountered actual zombies in Scooby Doo on Zombie Island.

In the Year One Survival Edition, the image for snacks in the inventory, which looks very much like Twinkies, is actually labeled as "Jinkies", a common exclamation among Scooby Doo characters, usually Velma.

In west Marshall is "Ma Rogers' Corner Store". This is actually a reference to the much-beloved children's TV icon Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers actually gave George Romero his very first directing job. In fact, he even attended the screenings for both Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Romero quoted him after the seeing Dawn as saying "It’s a lot of fun, George.”

Behind one of the houses in Spencer's Mill, one can find a few lawnmowers lined up behind a row of sunflowers and many dead zombies scattering the garden. One of these zombies has a cone near its head and another has a bucket. This is a reference to the Plants Vs. Zombies video game series.

In downtown Marshall just south of the courthouse is "McDermott's Tavern". Joe McDermott is a musician whose past work includes scoring the video game Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993). His most recent zombie-related work is an instrumental piece is Zombie Caprice, which seems to relate back to early 1990's video game music.

Occasionally when a construction project completes, Lily will say, "Construction complete. I always wanted to say that." This is a reference to the robotic voice over in various Command & Conquer games.

Inside one of the Houses in Spencer's Mill, an Xbox 360 Elite slim and matching controller can be seen on a desk. Xbox 360s can also be found in various houses throughout the game map.
This is a clear reference to Microsoft's role in funding the game and naturally, its release on the Xbox 360 console.

The description for the weapon Cracked Pipe "A pipe with flow valve. Valves are cool." is a direct nod towards Valve, the company who created Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and more. They also offer the online video game purchasing service named "Steam" which currently offers State of Decay for PCs.

The Lifeline DLC achievement "War Never Changes" is a reference to the Fallout series of games. Traditionally Fallout games begin with the voice of Ron Perlman stating "War, war never changes" as part of the opening soliloquy.

In Marshall, across the bridge near the Savini Residence, there is a park named for Maxwell Brook City Park. This is probably a reference to Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z.

In some houses, there are paintings of a scene from the story call of Cthulhu by the writer H. P. Lovecraft. The paintings depicts a ship being attacked by Cthulhu (A large sea monster). This story and the eponymous monster are the most famous of Lovecraft's creations.

A type of arcade gaming-machine with Cthulhu on the both sides of it can also be found several places. The name of the game seems to be something like "Elder Gods Rampage" (although it's very pixelated and hard to read).

There is a graffiti to be found in several places showing a strange, winged creature with a star on it (one is located on the trailer next to the County Court House). These seem to depict one of the "Elder Gods" from Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, which he describes most prominently in "At the Mountains of Madness" and other stories.

This one is pretty blatant. All Swine & Bovine restaurants have "REV 20:12 THUS IT ALL ENDS" written on their signs out front. This is a reference to a verse in the Book of Revelation dealing with the resurrection of the dead at the end of days for God's final judgment of humanity.

The Black Fever disease seems to be named after the real world Black fever (Visceral leishmaniasis), the second largest parasitic killer in the world after Malaria, although it's unconfirmed if the symptoms are the same.

On the sides of every supply box in every home, outpost and enclave in the game is written "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ", Greek for "Come and Take". This line is attributed to Leonidas I, spoken in defiance at the Battle of Thermopylae when he was commanded by the Persians to 'surrender their weapons'. This line even appears on the monument beneath his statue at Thermopylae, Greece. Most people reading this wiki would probably best recognize this line as "Come and get them!" spoken by Leonidas in the movie 300, directed by Dawn of the Dead remake director Zack Snyder.

The first weapon of Story Mode, the Wooden Branch is described as "Speak softly and carry a big..." This is a part of a quote from past US President Theodore Roosevelt, who attributed it to a West African proverb. The missing part following the ellipsis is "stick, and you will go far."

"Nerdfighter" the term used for fans of the "Vlogbrothers" and "Crash Course" and many other fandoms, the "Vlogbrothers" are John and Hank Green, whom also run the Foundation to End World Suck, and their motto is "Don't Forget To Be Awesome." Green in the game is listed as having been trained to be a nerdfighter, under which it says "Don't forget to be awesome" and in his description it says that he is an "internet junkie who wants to make the world a better place," paralleling the foundation name and the fact the Hank is known for his internet activities.